Struggling youth club removes latest Banksy from wall in Bristol

Mobile lovers: the artwork featured a man and woman embracing while looking at their phones (Picture: PA)

A youth club threatened with closure is hoping to raise thousands by selling Banksy artwork members removed with a crowbar.

Mobile Lovers was posted on the guerilla artist's website yesterday, but its whereabouts were unknown.

However, the location was identified yesterday as Clement Street, Bristol, within sight of the city's bustling shopping centre.

Fans travelled to the street to admire the image, which was painted on a black piece of wood screwed on to a wall.

But at 4pm, a group of men from Broad Plain & Riverside Youth Project, situated just beside the piece, used crowbars to remove it.

Dennis Stinchcombe, leader of the youth project, said the piece would be sold to raise funds to keep the centre open.

The 58-year-old said: "I was approached by somebody who knows Banksy very well.

"He's an artist himself and he said, 'you need to take that Dennis, get it into that club - it's what it is meant for'. Banksy never does his street art on pieces of wood - they are always on walls so they can't be taken away.

"We need £120,000 to keep going and our fundraising appeal has so far only brought a few thousand pounds. Now we've ended up with a Banksy on our doorstep. It is a dream come true. I'm absolutely buzzing."

Bristol City Council said it could not be certain of the ownership of the wall the piece was screwed on to.

By 6pm, planks of wood were screwed over the empty doorway, with a notice urging fans to visit the artwork at the club by paying a donation.

Mr Stinchcombe said Mobile Lovers was placed as close as possible to the club, located behind tall locked gates.

"He has done it to help the right people," he said. "Somebody was saying it is worth £40,000 but I am hoping for £100,000.

"We will let people come and see it here for a while, then get it to Bonhams for valuation."

The club, which is attended by 1,000 young people every month, has been operating for 120 years.

Mr Stinchcombe, who has been working at the club for 40 years, initially spotted the piece at 9.15am on Monday.

He did not believe it was an authentic Banksy until later that evening, when a friend spotted it on the street artist's website.

After realising the worth of the piece, Mr Stinchcombe guarded it until receiving the tip-off that he should remove it.

The discovery of Mobile Lovers comes days after a piece depicting three 1950s-style agents listening in on conversations in a telephone box appeared on a house in Cheltenham.

Mobile Lovers looked out on the A4032, the busy main road leading into Bristol from the M32.

Art fans from around the city and beyond flocked to see the piece after work but were disappointed to find it had already been removed.

Rachel Dean, a puzzles compiler who cycled to see the artwork, said: "It's a real shame because it ruins it. The whole point of street art is that it's there."

Laura Pique, 21, a fine arts student at UWE Bristol, said: "If it was my door I wouldn't be happy that it had been taken. Street art is on the streets, you shouldn't have to pay for it."